


wherever I lay my head

by QLaLa



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Earths, Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 17:25:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12237384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QLaLa/pseuds/QLaLa
Summary: When Barry tracked down his Earth-27 counterpart, he wasn't expecting to find anyone else at home.





	wherever I lay my head

**Author's Note:**

> FIll for the prompt, "Hey, have you seen the... Oh."
> 
> Title from "Diplomat's Son," by Vampire Weekend.

Barry didn’t even know which Earth this was. But his coms were shot to hell, and what passed for STAR Labs here looked so heavily fortified that he couldn’t risk breaking in and finding unfriendly forces waiting inside. He tried Cisco’s apartment next—one Vibe had gotten him into this, another might be able to get him out—but found only a parking lot where his building usually stood.

Barry sighed, and changed course. If he was the Flash on this Earth, his doppelganger might be able to get him in touch with Cisco’s. He headed towards his own apartment, already mapping out the route to the West household in case this turned up a bust. The building still existed, at least; it looked about the same as it did on his Earth, though he didn’t recognize the strange jumble of numbers and letters on the address. A quick Flash treatment to the keypad got him into the lobby, and he took the stairs from there.

His key still worked, which he took as a good sign. He’d gotten the locks changed when he bought the place; in a world that had flying cars and a base twelve numeral system, he figured that was a little too unlikely to be a coincidence.

Barry eased the door open (the squeaky bottom hinge seemed to be a universal constant) and slipped inside. He closed the door carefully behind him, wincing at the click. When he turned to move further into the room, though, he stopped short. A strange feeling of déjà vu washed over him; then the annoyance caught up, and he scowled at the man watching him from _his_ armchair.

“Are you a criminal on every Earth?” Barry demanded.

Leonard Snart looked back at him, expression deeply unimpressed. If not for the dark-framed glasses perched on his nose, Barry could’ve mistaken him for his Earth-1 self. His hair was buzzed short and streaked through with early hints of grey, and his eyes were the same unsettling shade of blue. He was sitting with one ankle crossed over the opposite knee, a paperback held open in one hand. In the other hand was a mug stamped with the name of Barry’s alma mater, raised halfway to his lips; he’d been in the middle of taking a sip from it when Barry had let himself in.

Len—or whatever he was called in this universe—didn’t answer him. Instead, he looked him over carefully, eyes catching on the Flash insignia on his chest and then, oddly, his hair. He raised his mug the rest of the way, took a long draw, then set it down on the coffee table. Barry felt a touch of amusement despite himself at how exactly this Len’s mannerisms mimicked Earth-1’s: the pointedly slow movements, meant only to annoy him; the tilt of his head as he considered his next words.

Len evidently reached some decision. He turned slightly towards the hall without taking his eyes off him, and called, voice slightly raised, “Henry.”

Barry blinked. Was his father alive on this Earth? And somehow on good terms with—

But it was his own voice that floated back to them from the kitchen.

“Just a second!”

Barry had long since lost count of how many alternate versions of himself he’d met, but it never got any less strange. He stared in the direction of his doppelganger’s voice, feeling more confused by the moment.

After a couple of seconds, when he was about to look back to Len for an explanation, a crackle of lightning swept past him through the room. The color was slightly off, a little closer to orange than his own. But when he followed the afterimage to the man standing in front of the fireplace, it was undoubtedly him. He had the odd experience of looking at the back of his own head, and then his doppelganger turned, sifting through a stack of mail in his hand.

“Hey, have you seen the...”

His doppelganger glanced up, saw him standing in front of the door, and broke off mid-sentence. Barry watched the surprise—though not as much as he would’ve expected—move across his own face, and noticed that the differences between them were more pronounced than he’d seen with Len. This version of himself was slightly older; less than ten years, he’d guess, but his gaze was a little sharper, and the first touch of grey was visible at his temples.

“Oh,” his doppelganger said. And then, at length, “Hey.”

“Hi,” Barry said, reflexively.

His doppelganger watched him, clearly waiting for some explanation. Barry was uncomfortably aware of Len still sitting in the chair, looking between them with mild interest.

“I’m… I’m from Earth-1,” Barry said, once he rediscovered his voice. He stole a glance at Len, who raised an eyebrow at him, then looked back to his doppelganger. “I’m looking for Cisco.” And then, because the curiosity was eating at him: “Did Snart just call you Henry?”

“I go by my middle name,” his doppelganger said. “Or, our middle name, anyway. So you’re a Bart or Barry?”

“Barry,” he confirmed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Len smirked. Henry—and yeah, that didn’t get any less weird—caught the expression as well, and threw Len an exasperated look. There went the last hope Barry’d had that his doppelganger simply hadn’t noticed the thief in his living room.

“Don’t say it,” Henry said. Then, to Barry, “We all call our worlds Earth-1. Don’t you have a call sign?”

“Somewhere with a Captain Cold,” Len offered. He turned his attention back to the book in his hand. “First thing he did after forcibly entering our home was accuse _me_ of being a criminal.”

Barry started to object—he hadn’t forcibly entered anywhere, he had a key—then shut his mouth with what must’ve been an audible click. _Our_ home?

His—Henry’s—lips quirked up in a knowing smile. “An Earth where we aren’t...” He trailed off, and gave Len an amused look. The warmth in his eyes was so open that Barry nearly blushed on his doppelganger’s behalf. But this wasn’t his world; this version of himself could look at Len like that, and not worry that the man might see it.

“I never take it as well as you, do I?” Henry asked.

Len gave a quiet, distracted hum, and turned a page in his book. “There _was_ my doppelganger on Earth Delta,” he said. “Citizen Cold. Nearly took your arm off with that ice-nine cold gun when you showed up in costume.”

“If you’re not Cold here,” Barry interrupted, curiosity getting the better of him, “what do you do?”

Len looked at him over the rim of his glasses. It was an unfairly good look on him, and Barry had to will away the heat that prickled up the back of his neck at Len’s frank gaze.

“Electrical engineer,” he said.

Barry blinked. “That’s it?”

Henry frowned at him, and Len put his book down with a delicately raised eyebrow. “I have a doctorate in applied physics,” he said. “Would you prefer I held up convenience stores?”

“Kind of,” Barry said, without thinking. Len’s eyebrow quirked higher, and Barry dragged a hand over the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…”

But Len was looking at him curiously now, considering his features with a critical eye. To Henry, he said, “A bit young to be the Flash.”

Henry peered at him closely, and the surprise came back to his eyes. “You're right,” he said.

“I’m right here,” Barry said.

Neither of them acknowledged this.

“The accident doesn’t usually happen until my thirties,” Henry said. Then he frowned, and met Barry’s eye again. “Sorry. It’s Barry, right?”

Barry nodded.

“Are our parents still alive?”

No matter how many Earths like this Barry visited, that question never got any easier. The answer was apparently evident on his face; Henry winced.

“I’ll call Cisco,” Len said after a moment. He ran a hand up Henry’s arm. The gesture was intimate, quietly reassuring, and Barry felt that he’d intruding on something private by seeing it. But Len caught his gaze before he could turn away, and a familiar smirk curled up at the corner of his lips.

“It’s still early, you know,” Len said. Henry tried to swat him on the chest, but Len caught his hand, obviously anticipating the move. He lifted Henry’s hand, eyes intent on Barry, and pressed a kiss to Henry’s palm. Barry felt a blush rise in his cheeks.

“Just saying,” Len said. “Most of my doppelgangers, they’re open to it.”

“Stop interfering,” Henry said.

Len turned to give him an arch look. “I’m interfering?” he asked. “What about Earth Sigma?”

Henry flushed. “That was different.”

“No shit,” Len said. “You had your tongue down my doppelganger’s throat by the time you realized it wasn’t me.”

Henry tried to pull his hand back from Len, cheeks flaming, and a glint of light caught Barry’s attention. He looked at his own—at Henry’s—hand, and the jolt of surprise was so strong it nearly left him dizzy. There was a thin gold ring on his fourth finger; Len wore a matching band.

“Can one of you please just call Cisco?” Barry said. "I really need to get back to my Earth." His voice had taken on a slightly hysterical note, which wasn’t helped when Len and Henry exchanged an amused look.

“I’ll get him,” Len said, and he levered himself up out of the chair. He brushed a kiss to the corner of Henry’s jaw, and winked when he saw Barry watching. “Seems the two of you have a lot to talk about.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make my day!


End file.
